Cone cups have been known as a container for serving frozen confectionery such as soft ice cream (soft-serve ice cream), hard ice cream, and other confectionery including chocolate or cream. Cone cups are made from a mixture of starchy raw materials such as flour and cornstarch, adding sugar and food additives accordingly, which is baked into a cup shape, filled with various confectioneries, for example, frozen confectionery, and eaten therewith.
A cone cup is a lightly baked confectionery like a wafer having a good mouth feel and serving as a wafer or a cookie for a relief in eating frozen confectionery. In addition, cone cups are often used for serving soft ice cream, since the aroma enhances a flavor of frozen confectionery.
Various kinds of cone cups have been known, for example, rolled cones rolled into a conical shape after a mixture is baked into a sheet. Rolled cones are cone cups utilizing plasticity of sugar and having a characteristic texture like cookies, which are preferably used for serving not only soft ice cream but also hard ice cream. A material formed into a sheet before rolled up is hereinafter referred to as a material sheet.
An apparatus for manufacturing the above rolled cones includes a concave half (female mold/outside mold) having a conical-shaped inside and a convex half (male mold/inside mold) fitted in the concave half. The above concave half has a slit-type inlet to insert a baked material sheet into the inside. Then, the convex half is fitted in the concave half and rotated therein to roll up the material sheet and make a rolled cone. Therefore, the concave half is used as a guide to form the outlines where a rolled cone is rolled up.
For example, an apparatus disclosed in (A) “The Japanese Laid-Open Utility Model Application No. 61-87079/1986 (Jitsukaisho 61-87079 published on Jun. 7, 1986)”, and an apparatus disclosed in (B) “The Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 4-169146/1992 (Tokukaihei 4-169146 published on Jun. 17, 1992)”, have been known as the above rolled cone manufacturing apparatus.
The manufacturing apparatus disclosed in the above (A) is a manually-operated apparatus, which moves a concave half with a convex half fixed. The manufacturing apparatus disclosed in the above (B) can automatically perform mass production, which moves a convex half with a concave half fixed and continuously provides a material sheet in the concave half through a remover.
To efficiently manufacture quality rolled cones, it is important to steadily roll up a material sheet and prevent any contact of the concave half with the convex half when both halves are fitted in. Therefore, in the above rolled cone manufacturing apparatus, it is necessary to align the axis of the concave half with the axis of the convex half.
More particularly, as shown in the FIGS. 11(a) and (b) and FIGS. 15(a) and (b), the rolled cone manufacturing apparatus includes a mold made up of at least a concave half 10 and a convex half 20. The concave half 10 has a conical shape at the inside and an opening part 11 at the bottom of the cone. In addition, at a side of the cone, a slit-type inlet 12 is formed to bring a material sheet into the inside. Furthermore, at a position leading to the inlet 12, for example, a plate-type stand 13 is provided. The convex half 20 has a conical-shaped outside to be fit in the concave half 10, wherein a spindle shaft 21 is installed at the bottom of the cone.
As shown in FIG. 11(a) and (b), when the convex half 20 is fitted in the concave half 10, a cavity 50 is formed between the concave half 10 and the convex half 20. As shown in FIG. 12(b), a part of the material sheet 41 is brought in the cavity 50 through the inlet 12, then, as shown in FIG. 12(a), a spindle shaft 21 of the convex half 20 is rotated in a direction of Arrow A in the figure by rotative means (not shown). Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12(b), the material sheet 41 moves to a direction of Arrow B in the figure (in the cavity 50). As shown in FIG. 13(a) and (b), the material sheet 41 is rolled up around the convex half 20 and is brought in the cavity 50.
Afterwards, as shown in FIG. 13(a), the convex half 20 is moved away from the concave half 10 (a direction of Arrow C in the figure), and as shown in FIG. 14(a), each of the halves is released from the fit position. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14(a), the material sheet 41 rolled up with the convex half 20 is taken out from the concave half 10. As shown in FIG. 15(a) and (b), the convex half 20 passes through a detachment frame 25, so that the material sheet 41 rolled up around an outside of the convex half 20, i.e., a rolled cone 40 is detached in a direction of Arrow D in the figure. (Though the direction D is vertically downward in fact, the Arrow shows the left side in the figure.)
However, in the above conventional art, when the material sheet 41 is rolled up, the concave half 10 is only fitted in the convex half 20. Therefore, especially in mass production of rolled cones, misalignment of the axes of the respective halves is unavoidable.
More particularly, the concave half 10 and the convex half 20 serve as a mold for forming the cavity 50 when being coupled with each other. In other words, as shown in FIGS. 11(a) and (b) to FIGS. 15(a) and (b), the concave half 10 and the convex half 20 just face each other with a gap named the cavity 50 interposed therebetween. In this condition, if the convex half 20 rotates to roll up the material sheet 41 thereon, the concave half 10 and the convex half 20 are easily misaligned through the influence of rotation of the convex half 20. Misalignment causes unsteady rolling up, resulting in poor rolled cones 40.
This invention is intended to solve the above problem, to effectively avoid misalignment of the respective axes of the concave half and the convex half, and to provide an apparatus for efficiently manufacturing quality rolled cones.